DRYPNZ

If you haven't heard of New Zealand based brickslayer DRYPNZ yet, it would be forgivable. I just happened to stumble onto his work a few weeks ago. But when I did, I was into the way his characters look like they took huge bong rips until they heads fell into black holes and got physically rearranged. Drypnz tells me that they're the result of "2 years of playing with a character... that seemed a bit stupid and came from some influential substances". Now he says they're "created by stronger coffees". Hard to believe, but who knows.


Straight from the horse's mouth: "They are all a new breed of human called DRYPPPL, so my characters are called drypppls and if i were to hang with them they wouldn't say much just grummble and make odd noises you would usually hear from a sink thats is clogged with some unwanted waste... and just be chilling in their amazingly sweet smelling skin....mmmmmm yea"

It's got to be something in the air out there. "As long as you're nice you can get away with a lot. Just don't run onto the mayor's property. Pretend you're going for an early morning jog and the public just don't know whats going on". But like way too many other cities, the buff is strong. "The city council had got sick of the tagging and bland shit before we could show them that street art was a compliment to the city and so there are street cleaners cleaning off sticks and posters right and left. So spot picking is essential."


There's plenty more going on in Drypnz's little universe. Go check out his website to get clued in.

A VERY STOLENSPACE XMAS

In keeping with our recent recommendations for international audiences (and our historic recommendation of shit that's cool)...


The annual Stolenspace holiday group show is set to open November 30 in London, featuring D*Face, Mysterious Al, SEEN and Hellovon, among a slew of others.

November 30-December 23
at the Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL
website

PERU ANA, ANA PERU

When I walked around downtown last winter, I started to notice tags that looked like this going up everywhere:"Ah," I thought to myself, "no style is the new style". The film/cinema thing interested me though, since it has more of an overt agenda than lots of other art. Then I started to see Peru Ana branching out into new kinds of installations.

I managed to pin down the responsible artists and ask a few questions recently. First, a little explanation was in order. What's this 'cinema' business all about?

"We feel that film has become cheapened by an era of ultra conservativism that panders to the concerns and needs of nasty business men (who, in the end, only want to make money). This has created a market of films and filmmakers that seek to produce only a type of work that is known to please consumers, and in turn, make money. It is quite disgusting." Fair enough. But how does that relate to art in the streets?


"What we call for, perhaps, is an experimentalism that seems very much to be absent from the current model of the filmmaking process, wherein it has already been decided (seemingly by the nasty business-types) what a film is, and how one should make them." It's like the Peru Ana campaign is a big ad campaign for all the experimental, low-budget filmmakers who don't get their props anywhere else. As far as experimentalism goes, you can see these artists put their non-money where their digital mouths are on their youtube page.



"As for the people of NYC, we have received a host of comments from many people, most of which merely intrigued as to what Peru Ana Ana Peru is, and why it is that it is all over the city. As for other writers and artists, we've been received quite well, forming minor relationships with a handfull of people, which is nice. As for the cops, well, our relationship with them consists simply of not running in to them (any more)."

Peru Ana are making an impact on the visual landscape of our city, that's for sure. And if you think that money's ruining the world, street art's a pretty good way to resist. Although these days it often seems like ad agencies are just as likely to be painting the walls as anyone else, but that's another issue. Check out their myspace if you're interested.

THE TEETH PROJECT

Sometimes finding new and exciting art involves a lot of work on our part to uncover the obscure and elusive. Other times, artists come to us, impressing us, brightening our days, and basically just making our lives a hell of a lot easier. Today is one of those days.

When I logged into the OS flickr this morning, this is what I found.

The Teeth Project is a pet project of Germany's Biser, who's created a series of hand made sculptures centered around, um, teeth. Biser also gets down with street installations, wild styles, stencils, you name it.



If you want to learn more, check out the Teeth Project flickr or Biser's Myspace.

Miss Van opening you missed

the elusive French street art vixen Miss Van has put up a new show. The opening was last night, but you should still go check out the art:

"Atame" Miss Van
Galerie Magda Danysz


Exhibition: November 24 through December 29, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 24th, 6 to 9 pm

78, rue Amelot - Paris XI - Tel. / fax : +33(0)1 45 83 38 51

Meggs show

For those of you that dont know who Meggs is, well, hop on the google train. This killer Australian artist is having a show opening on November 23rd and, sadly, it and he are in Australia.

JERSEY WHATEVER

Everyone I see on the street has a suitcase today. I'm about to be a part of the travel rush too, but all I have to do is catch the PATH to New Jersey. If you're flying somewhere today, please accept everyone here at Overspray's sincere condolences.


Speaking of Jersey, FARO just went to Mountain Creek (Jersey's one and only snowboard 'resort') to do a wall and generally wreck shit for a few days. If you live in New York and you haven't seen his work, you're probably blind.



The video came from Broke Ya Neck. It's a blog worth checking out. The grammar's kind of horrendous but the content is awesome. Check it for pics from a 16 year old freight hopper, a bunch of movies, and photos from the Mountain Creek trip along with a recent trip down to Asbury Park. You could also check out FARO INC on flickr for more canvases and walls, if that's what tickles your fancy.


I'm out of here. Happy turkey holiday.

Photo Credits: 1, 2

MONO?

I've been in sporadic contact with Mista Breakfast, member of some cryptic UK-based ensamble called Mono for months now, but he hasn't really answered many questions. Is it a graff crew? Art collective? Clothing brand? Who knows. A little of each, I guess.


The art stands on its own, so let's not get too bogged down with inconsequential concerns.


If you'd like to investigate a bit yourself, you can check out the flickr.

ANOTHER CUSTOM SHOW

You might remember a few weeks ago when we posted about a customized guitar show and auction. All the axes have been submitted and if you hop on ebay real quick, you've still got a chance to bid on the pieces.


One of the artists in the show, Royce Bannon, admins a sweet flickr group called Truck Fetish. He's pretty on point, with the photography, with the art, everything. Gotta love bombed trucks.


Truck by Soler, photo by Royce.

RUBICON SUN

David Ellis and Doze Green are collaborating for a show in San Francisco's FIFTY24SF gallery that basically runs the gamut from paint to sculpture to film to you name it, it's there. Looks like a mind-bender for sure.

Upper Playground Presents:
David Ellis and Doze Green
RUBICON SUN
December 13-January 3, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 13, 2007 from 7-9:30 p.m.
252 Fillmore Street, San Francisco

GIVE THANKS WITH KOFIE

Thanksgiving is imminent, and our pal Augustine Kofie is teaming up with Frohawk Two-Feathers to hold a show in LA to commemorating the occasion in all of its imperialist glory. Kofie is legitimately one of the most talented, positive dudes on the planet, so we're psyched on anything he does. We featured his art in the California issue (OS6) a little while back and it's always cool to see new work.

"The theme has been tossed around all year" Kofie told us, "ranging from Colonialism in the early Americas, to going back in time and capsizing the Mayflower". Unfortunately, the show is clear across the country from us, but if you're in LA this is something not to miss.

THANKS opening reception
Saturday, November 17
706 East 1st Street, Los Angeles
8pm-midnight

And after that party, Kofie's going to roll over to the Hit and Run 2nd Anniversary party. If you're not familiar with Hit and Run, its a series of parties where artists bring exclusive designs to screen print on shirts. Everyone who shows up will get a free blank t-shirt to screen, and if you roll in wearing a design from one of the previous H&R's, you get in free. On top of all the shirt-business, they're going to have DJ's, art installations, and bars running all night.

Hit and Run: Repeat Offenders
Located @ The Crash Mansion, 1024 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown LA 90015
21+, 12am-3am
$10, or FREE with previous H&R shirt

It's going to be a wild ride for Kofie and everyone else involved. If you're in LA, you should definitely roll by and give thanks.

ROOFTOP LEGENDS

This weekend, the Lower East Side's New Design High School hosted an opening for their Rooftop Legends show. Essentially, they invited legendary writers and artists along with a few up-and-comers to piece up their roof. We missed our chance to see it in person, but luckily the Rooftop Legends Blog has a huge archive of all the pieces that went up.

Art by Charm, runner up in Overspray's first live paint battle.Art by Eder MunizArt by Joy Fouts.

YOUNITY PRESENTS: THE CROSSOVER

Younity is a global collective of female artists started by Toofly and Alice Mizrachi, and this Friday they're going to hold the first of many planned annual exhibitions. The whole idea is to create a positive network that empowers women to get their work into cool shows. Our girl dominated office is way into that.


The line up is pretty sick, so if you're in NYC this Friday, swing by.

Showroom Gallery
117 2nd Avenue (2nd Floor)
November 16
6-9pm
www.theyounity.com

REDRUM AYS

Redrum AYS makes art that celebrates youth as a source of power. His little kids and cartoon characters run amok in Vancouver, and if you've seen The Shining, the word 'redrum' brings to mind a scary but gifted youngin'.


In a city where you can find cannabis cafes and shoot-up spots, you'd expect renegade artists to bomb the hell out of the place. Not the case, actually. I got Redrum to give me a sort of scene check and this is what he had to say: "The Vancouver streetart scene is very small. Only a handful of regular streetartists who get up. I have a feeling this could be due to the upcoming olympics in 2010. I've never met any other street artists other than my own crew."


So the Vancouver buff is strong indeed. But tolerant Canadian attitudes are still prevalent.
"As for the police, I've never had a problem. I know they're just doing their job, so how can I hate on that?" Thanks, Redrum, for reminding us why Canada can sometimes seem so reasonable and inviting when the New York City madness gets to be too much.


Thanks to Redrum for the words and pictures. To check in on what he's been doing, peep the Flickr.

CONGRATS ELPH

It's been almost a month, but serious congratulations are in order for our man ELPH, who has recently become a dad to the lovely child pictured above.


ELPH was one of the "Character Kings" that we profiled in issue 5, and he hooked us up with a killer Overspray shirt design for our first live painting event back in September. He's got a few events on the horizon, so you should check out his blog for updates on that.

Speaking of ELPH's blog, I found this amazing, mind-blowing image there earlier, and need to share it with the world:

WHAT'S AUTUMN?

Here in New York it feels like the weather switched straight from 'boil' to 'freeze' but in faraway Vancouver, Autumn actually happened for more than a day or two. "I Can't Stop" sticker by Jerm Inc.

To check out more of Jerm's work, hit up his flickr.

Watch Your Space

Overspray doesn't condone illegal vandalism... just art, art, and more art, wherever the hell you feel like putting it. And in the interests of keeping all our brosephs and brosephines out of jail, this video seems worth passing down:



This is really simple common sense. Still, just because you aren't banging tags or letters doesn't mean that Johnny Law wants to put you in cuffs any less.

New Alexone book!!

Incredible European artist Alexone is bringing out a book called 'Came a Yeux', through Kitchen93. It starts shipping November 15th and looks EPIC.
Here for more info: http://www.kitchen93.fr/livres.php

ADER: FOKUSED

Brooklyn's ADER has been peppering the city with his art for a solid decade and a half now. "I been around in this whole graffiti subculture since before I could read it," he said, "it started with seeing colors on trains, till looking at family doing blackbooks with designers and my first look at a homemade marker hands on. I've been ADER since 1991". It's always really illuminating to look at the way writers have adapted to changes in the game over that many years.

One of the major facets of graffiti and street art that's seen a lot of new attention over the last couple years is the character. "Characters are something I did since I was piecing in books. I just used to do the A alone then i was going through some blackbooks from like 93 and I saw one I did with a character . Then i just got back into it doing different expressions... Those are the A Men stay fokused on them!".

Characters or pieces, ADER's work is gritty. So it's fitting that he's been collaborating with Neck Face-- often hated, never too polished, but definitely on everybody's radar. The designs they came up with are getting printed on t-shirts from ADER's Fokused Empire line of clothes and bags.

"The Fokused Empire Merchandise is something I started in like 2002-2003, simply hand painting tote bags and it got serious when people would come into my restaurant and make offers to purchase them. I didn't know how to silkscreen so I would hand paint every bag, every detail. Then once I learned how to screen print, hand painting and killing lots of acrylics went out the window. I flipped and started doing t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc all on my own. The plan is to put it out there on a full fledged level wiith an intent on keeping people FOKUSED"

Nowadays ADER is enlisted in the Marines as a translator but that doesn't stop him from keeping FOKUSED on the art. Check out his blog and flickr if you want to see what he's been up to.